Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
is a 2008 film, the first film adaptation of Dragon Ball Z since 1995's Wrath of the Dragon (though the 1996 retelling The Path to Power was the last film installment of the series overall prior to the film's release). It also features the first Dragon Ball animations in nearly a decade, following a short story arc in the the remade Dr. Slump anime series crossing over Kid Goku and the Red Ribbon Army in 1999. Plot It has been two years since Majin Buu was defeated and Hercule has become a hero for defeating him. However, Videl remembers the truth of those events, and seems to be embarrassed about her father. A gigantic hotel is being built in Hercule’s honor. Upon completion, Hercule decides to throw a party for Goku and the others who fought Buu. Meanwhile, Goku, Chi Chi, Goten, and Gohan have been making their living growing radishes. Videl soon arrives and asks Gohan to bring his family to the party. At first Goku doesn’t want to go, but he changes his mind once he hears there will be rare foods there. Roshi, Android 18, Krillin, etc, take off for the hotel and give Goku’s family a lift. Piccolo decides to not ride along, but rather flies after them on his own. The group from Capsule Corp. arrives at the hotel first, and when Vegeta and Goku see each other, they begin to fight. Goku realizes the party is starting, and heads off to the assembly hall. Apart from Goku’s family, the Z Fighters (except Tien and Chiaotzu), Vegeta’s family, and Roshi's group, the crowd includes Dende, Mr. Popo, Korin, Yajirobe, Yamcha, Puar, Launch, Ox-King, King Kai, Bubbles, Gregory, Kibito Kai, and Elder Kai. Despite the fact that there’s supposed to be no media coverage of the party, members of the press appear and ask Hercule questions about Buu’s defeat. While the “Z Senshi” are eating, two Saiyan style spaceships land on Earth. Piccolo and Gohan are the first to notice, then No. 18, and eventually everyone stops eating and the atmosphere becomes tense. A sharp-eyed Saiyan and a small alien emerge from the two spaceships. Using his scouter to detect higher battle powers, the Saiyan soon arrives at the party. Upon seeing Vegeta, the Saiyan calls him "big brother." The Z-Fighters are all shocked by this sudden event. The Saiyan introduces himself as Tarble, along with his wife, Gure. Vegeta says that Tarble had been sent off to a remote planet because he had no talent for battle. Tarble begs our heroes to defeat Abo and Kado, who have ravished his planet and pursued him to Earth. Goku says that if they’re strong, he’ll fight them, and Gohan wants to help as well. Goten and Trunks think it sounds interesting, Krillin and Yamcha say they want to try as well, and eventually even Kame-sennin wants to fight. Tarble measures their battle powers with his scouter, and says that they’ll be of no help since their battle powers are so low. Vegeta scolds Tarble for relying on his scouter, and as an example, Goku begins to gather ki. The battle power reading on the scouter steadily increases. It soon breaks as Goku goes Super Saiyan, and Tarble is amazed by Goku’s power. Goku thinks it will be unfair if everybody fights the weaker guys, and suggests they select a single representative to fight. Goku teleports Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, Yamcha, Krillin, Kame-sennin, Videl, Chi Chi, Bulma, Tarble, and Gure to Mount Paozu (this whole time, Hercule, Fat Buu, Kai-shin, and Elder Kai have been ignoring Tarble and just go on drinking). Goku suggests that they each draw a radish, and the person who draws the longest radish will be the representative. Goten draws out a very long radish, and it seems he will be the one to fight. This makes Vegeta jealous, and he tells Trunks to pull out an even bigger radish. Pressured by Vegeta, Trunks pulls out what at first seems like a very short, thin radish and then turns out to be the longest one. He suggets that Dende told him how to it. Meanwhile, two other spaceships land on Earth, containing Abo and Kado. Pursuing Tarble, they arrive at Hercule Hotel, and a panic erupts. Goku and the others soon return, and things clam down. Goku says to Vegeta that if there are two of them, they should also be two; to which he replies that Trunks should be enough. Goku, going against Vegeta, then tells Goten that he could fight too. It turns out Abo and Kado are remnants of Frieza’s army, who have taken control of Frieza’s planets now that he is gone. Vegeta also knows of them, and says that they were supposed to rival the Ginyu Force. Tarble says that the two have become much stronger, and that not even Frieza could beat them now. Goku loses his enthusiasm when he hears that they’re “only” at Frieza’s level, and decides that it’s alright for Trunks and Goten to fight them. At first Abo and Kado underestimate their child opponents, and they get clobbered and knocked into some boulders. They decide to get serious, and they each split into three people. Trunks and Goten are completely unable to counterattack now that Abo and Kado have become six people. Vegeta advices them to sense their ki and locate the real Abo and Kado, but they can’t. Gohan offers to help, but they turn him down. They settle on having Gohan merely tell them where the real Abo and Kado are. With Gohan’s accurate advice, Goten and Trunks drive Abo and Kado to the wall. Cornered, Abo and Kado merge to become even stronger, forming merged Aka. Put on the defensive by Aka’s attacks, Goten and Trunks use their secret weapon, Fusion. However, since it’s been so long since they’ve used it, they fail and become the fat Gotenks. They eventually succeed on their second try, and Gotenks overwhelms Aka, using Yamcha’s Wolf Fang Fist, Tenshinhan’s Volleyball Attack, and to finish him off they use Hercle’s Dynamite Rolling Thunder Punch, going Super Saiyan the moment they punch Aka. Aka crashes into a lake. Aka rises out of the lake and is enraged. He lets out a giant energy wave, firing it from both hands and his mouth. It hits Gotenks and causes the Hercule Hotel to collapse. Aka then starts shooting Destructive Energy Waves, damaging each part of the hotel one after the other. In order to protect his friends, Piccolo deflects each energy bullet with a Special Beam Cannon. Krillin uses a Kienzan to save Android 18 and Marron as they’re about to be crushed by rubble. Yamcha protects Bulma, Oolong and Puar from the falling rubble by using the Sokidan, Yajirobe saves some people by slicing rubble in half, and Roshi also protects a group of maids from the rubble. When saving everyone, Yamcha and krillin switch to their traditional Z fighter gi. Goku and Vegeta decide to finish off Aka. They argue over which one of them should defeat him, when Goku points and asks “What’s that?!”, causing Vegeta to look away. With Vegeta distracted, Goku takes off towards Aka, while Vegeta objects that that was dirty trick by Goku. Aka fires a Super Wahaha no Ha and Goku counters with a Kamehameha, then nails Aka with a single punch. Aka is finally defeated and the battle is over. Videl tells her father that having his hotel smashed was a punishment for being big-headed; Hercule agrees and promises to change. Goku and Krillin say that he could make a wish to Shenron to rebuild it, in which he almost agrees, and the party starts again amid the hotel rubble. As the party continues, the two villains are invited to the party by Goku. Goku eats Vegeta’s sushi, who eats Goku’s Char Siu in return. Angry, the two finally turn Super Saiyan and begin fighting, as everyone else watches in amazement. Cast Notes * Tarble's name is a pun on "Vegetable", and Abo and Kado are a pun on "Avocado". * In the film, Mr. Satan is interviewed in regards to the defeat of Majin Buu. The general public's knowledge of Majin Buu and his defeat by Mr. Satan is considered to be a plot hole because their knowledge of the events should have been erased a year and a half before. But actually, Shenron only erased the memory of Fat Buu being evil half a year after Kid Buu's death. * Vegeta is considered to be out of character in the film by many fans. It should be noted that the events of this film take place after the Majin Buu Saga, when Vegeta's character developed considerably. He's not the cold-blooded Saiyan warrior he was before, he's become much gentler and even shows compassion towards his brother, referring to him as "Uncle Tarble" as he should be addressed by Trunks. Goku and Vegeta's rivalry, though intense, stands in stark contrast to the vendetta Vegeta had against Goku though most of the series, instead being a friendly rivalry that serves as comic relief. * Vegeta is still wearing his Saiyan armor and Goku's clothes have the turtle sign on them. * Aside from the Z-Fighter group pose at the end of the opening sequence, both Chiaotzu and Tien do not make an appearance in the movie, despite their being shown on the movie poster, while Vegeta has his Buu arc outfit, which also did not appear in the movie. * This is also the first movie since Bojack Unbound in which Piccolo appears, with the exception of a fantasy in Broly: Second Coming where Gohan imagined Piccolo and mistook Krillin for him. External links *Shonen Jump Super Anime Tour - free stream of Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! released November 24, 2008 through January 31, 2009 Category:Films